The VLW Blog

A federal circuit court opinion about whether a joint with a liquor license can let its topless dancers dance fully nude is probably the last place you’d expect to find judges debating the health, or lack thereof, of Latin.
Latin – the noble language of the Romans – recently has enjoyed a bit of a […]

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A former bankruptcy attorney was sentenced yesterday to a year and a day in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
Leslie W. Lickstein, 54, of Fairfax, was accused of preparing a false settlement statement in the sale of a property in Great Falls in July 2002.
As a result, Lehman Brothers Bank made a multimillion […]

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Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey L. Bryant III has personal and institutional reasons to be pleased with Tuesday’s ruling by the Virginia Court of Appeals that judges can defer findings of guilt only with the express approval of the General Assembly.
Bryant is the president of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys. Gibson v. Commonwealth “substantiates […]

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Four judges from the Virginia Court of Appeals are among nine candidates the judicial nominations committee of the Virginia State Bar has found to be highly qualified to fill the Supreme Court of Virginia vacancy created by the retirement of Justice Elizabeth B. Lacy.
The committee found two candidates to be qualified and made no finding […]

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Arlington Circuit Judge Benjamin N.A. Kendrick yesterday upheld the new law allowing for the establishment of regional transportation authorities that can issue bonds and impose taxes.
This 2007 General Assembly, as part of a comprehensive transportation package, authorized the creation of authorities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
Richmond lawyer Patrick McSweeney and the challengers […]

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Two judicial proceedings were conducted at the same time today. In one, a defendant pleaded guilty to a felony with a maximum punishment of five years, and the government will be asking for a fifth of that.
In the other, high-powered lawyers argued about the constitutionality of Virginia’s $3 billion transportation plan, which includes projects, taxes […]

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The controversy over Virginia’s new “civil remedial fees” for “abusive drivers” has generated a lot of ink in the last two months.
The Washington Post has made the brouhaha a little personal for the commonwealth’s lawmakers.
Quite a few public officials, from Gov. Tim Kaine to Speaker Bill Howell to other members of the General […]

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Virginia Beach spent $200,000 in 2002 to put together a facial recognition security system at the Oceanfront, but the system has essentially been scrapped, reports The Virginian-Pilot. It was designed to match facial images to a computer database, but it suffered from technical problems and has not been used in two years.
The Beach chief […]

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Last year, VLW reported a Richmond federal court decision that highlighted the difference between a noncompete in the sale of a business, versus an employment contract noncompete.
In Western Insulation LP v. Moore, U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer awarded nearly $1 million in damages to a Henrico County insulation company that alleged the business sellers, […]

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The Norfolk office of McGuireWoods received the Attorney General’s Cup today for collecting the most food per capita of any law firm in the state during the first statewide “Legal Food Frenzy” in April.
Attorney General Bob McDonnell presented the Revere bowl to John Padgett, the office’s managing partner, and Shana Jones, an associate who coordinated […]

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